Duty Of Care Ethics Case Study

Ethics is the study of what is deemed for something to be morally right and wrong (1). Ethics can be considered a ‘moral code’ that consists of an individual’s personal standards and based on community moral standards, therefore can be very subjective to interpretation. Considerations also need to be given to the laws that in place by governing bodies in a particular country that need to followed. These are defined by statutes, regulations and legislation. Ambulance Transport Attendant’s (ATA) legal duties are to the patient, their employer and the public. We have to take into consideration patient confidentiality, duty of care and the scope of practice for ATA’s. The case study I will be discussing is of a 75 year old woman who needs to be
On arrival at the low caring nursing home, the patient was assessed and it was found that she was inadequately perfused (HR 122, BP 90/55mmHg, warm and flushed), had a normal respiratory status with GCS 13. Upon conducting the secondary survey, her temperature was 39.2, foul odors present and she has been incontinent of urine. The patient refuses to be transported to the suggested hospital as she has had bad experiences on previous admissions. Consent needs to be obtained from the patient in order for transportation to proceed as long they are competent of sound mind and they understand the information that was provided (2). The patient’s autonomy dictates that their requests should be honored and respected
It is a person’s constitutional right to decide the extent of sharing their personal information with others. It is defined in both statutes and common law. Confidentiality is the right of an individual. The only time a health care provider is not obliged by statutes to maintain the individual’s privacy, is when maintaining this privacy could put the individual, the public or the health care provider at risk (7). As ATA’s, we become privy to people’s personal and medical information. This information is confidential and shall not be disclosed to anyone unless there is a legal or medical reason to (8). Looking at the case study, a woman in her 40’s arrives and is anxious and concerned for the patient and is demanding to be told what is going on. Based on the little information we have. I would not be able to tell her anything. It would be inappropriate and legally and morally wrong to disclose the patient’s personal and medical information. We don’t know if she is a relative or friend. If the patient disclosed who she was and verbally gave her consent, then I would be able to tell her the details of the situation. My responsibility is the 75 year old patient and I would have to make sure that the woman wasn’t somebody who could potentially harm my